Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach volunteers Wanza Davis, Yvonne Singley, Patricia Davis and Pat Carpenter celebrate the milestone of shipping supplies and equipment to a 100th country.
Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach, based in Springfield, Illinois, reached a milestone on Aug. 15 when it shipped a container of requested medical supplies and equipment to its 100th country, Burundi, in central Africa.
The 40-foot shipping container is carrying about 2,000 items, including an infant incubator, infant warmers, a birthing bed, patient monitors, oxygen concentrators, and vision testers.
The supplies will go to the Habwawihe Medical Polyclinic, which is supported by Rev. Ezechiel Habwawihe, a pastor at Morgantown United Methodist Church in Morgantown, Indiana. He and his family along with volunteers and staff of Mission Outreach attended a celebration in Springfield to mark the shipment milestone. Sisters and associates of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis attended the celebration virtually.
Rev. Habwawihe said maternal and infant mortality is very high in Burundi and the Habwawihe Medical Polyclinic needs equipment to enhance services to mothers and babies as well as patients who require surgery, dentistry and ophthalmology services.
Hospital Sisters Health System of Springfield, Ascension of St. Louis, Mercy of Chesterfield, Missouri, and other Midwest health systems donated medical supplies and equipment for the shipment to Burundi.
Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach was founded by the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and collects medical supplies and equipment from hospitals across the Midwest and responsibly donates them to health care facilities in low-resource areas worldwide.